


What Does Not Kill You

by Morgyn Leri (morgynleri)



Category: GoldenEye (1995), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Crossover, Don’t copy to another site, GFY, Major Character Injury, Other, Recovery, Women Being Awesome
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-14
Updated: 2019-04-14
Packaged: 2020-01-12 23:43:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18457055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/morgynleri/pseuds/Morgyn%20Leri
Summary: Alec Trevelyan is recovering from Arkangel at the Lovegood house while his friends and some unexpected allies try to unravel what happened and what to do next.





	What Does Not Kill You

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Telling Tales](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17806193) by [Morgyn Leri (morgynleri)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/morgynleri/pseuds/Morgyn%20Leri). 



> So there's a bit in Telling Tales about Pandora sending Alec a Howler in 1986 after Arkangel. This is me going "what happens if he actually sends a response to that Howler?", and running with it.
> 
> Thank you to Norcumi and Flamethrower for listening to me babble about this and cheerleading. Y'all are awesome!

**15 December 1986**

The paper is dirty and torn, the words on it cramped and almost invisible in places where ink ran short. But she knew that hand, and she knew those words, and she could feel her breath catch in her chest with dread.

Xenophilius is capable of watching Luna for a few days on his own, and he can always take her across the village to the Weasleys when he needs a few hours to work on the newspaper. She doesn't bother with the Floo or an owl, sending a Patronus message straight to Severus instead, pacing her back garden until he arrives with the familiar pop of Apparition.

"What has he done now?"

"I don't know." Pandora passes him the scrap of paper she'd gotten in response to her Howler, and watches Severus pale, leaving his face looking more sallow than usual. "That's what I thought. Do you want to wait for Dimitar, or should we tell him to meet us here after?"

"After." Severus crumples the scrap of paper. "He'll need to bring the full kit I stocked for him."

Pandora nods, ducking inside long enough to pen a swift message, and sending it off with the family owl to her cousin. Severus is looking impatient when she gets back outside, and she offers her arm to take him side-along to a house she's only visited the once. She knocks on the door in a careful pattern, warning the resident that she's coming inside and that she's friendly.

"Is there a reason you're coming here directly, Pandora?" Meredith is in the doorway that Pandora knows leads back toward the safe room, where she has probably already sent her children.

"I need to know where Trevelyan's last mission was to, as close to specific as you can get."

Meredith narrows her eyes. "The reports say 006 died on his last mission, and his body was unrecoverable. Why would you need to know where he went?"

"Because he's not dead." Pandora holds Meredith's gaze steadily, waiting her out.

"I can't give you specifics, that information is classified, and you don't have clearance." Meredith crosses her arms, and Pandora reaches back to put a restraining hand on Severus. "And you're not going to intimidate the information out of me."

"All I need is a general geographic region, Meredith. The rest I can take care of from there." Get them close enough, and a location spell will get them the rest of the way to Trevelyan. Hopefully in time.

Meredith doesn't respond immediately, doesn't move, barely blinks. "Start in Moscow."

It has to be enough. Pandora gives Meredith a swift nod of thanks before herding Severus back to where they Apparated into. Moscow is too far to Apparate directly, even if she knew where she was going. An international port key takes too much energy or too many explanations, especially going into a place where the wizarding population doesn't live as separate as they do in Britain.

Severus doesn't speak, just offers his arm, and Pandora raises an eyebrow, but takes it. They land outside what looks to be nothing more than a weathered shepherd's hut, though there's a low hum against her skin that speaks of old and layered magic.

Inside, there's more room, and Severus goes directly for a desk sitting under an enchanted window that shows an overgrown garden. It takes him a moment to open a drawer that he pulls a brass ring from, large enough for both of them to grip.

"Illegal port key?" Pandora isn't sure if she should be surprised there's a port key already available for this, or that Severus and Trevelyan must be keeping secrets. She doesn't think she particularly wants to know what those secrets are, even now.

"He should have had one on him in the first place." Severus scowls, pressing the tip of his wand to the ring for a long moment, a ripple of blue passing over the ring before he holds it out for her to grasp hold of. A snapped-out password, and the world whirls away in a rush, resolving moments later into the same unkempt garden that had been outside the enchanted window. There's the burnt ruins of a house nearby, including a partial window frame that Pandora suspects is the viewpoint of the window.

"Should I refrain from asking?"

"To the best of my knowledge, his family home, just outside Leningrad."

Severus pockets the brass ring, and Pandora draws her wand, casting the locator spell. It takes them two days to track Trevelyan to a Muggle hospital, and another to get into the room where he's being held without having to use magic directly against Muggles. No need to bring attention down on them from any local authorities before they've had a chance to get Trevelyan out.

Pandora bites back a gasp when she sees Trevelyan, the bright red and shiny patches of burnt skin, the singed hair. He looks almost fragile against the pale sheets, until he opens his eyes. There's a fierce pride and intense relief in Trevelyan's gaze, and she smiles a moment before she starts to help Severus in getting the Muggle medical equipment detatched.

"You came." Trevelyan's voice is hoarse, like he's been screaming, and Pandora tries not to flinch at that.

"Of course we did." She slides a hand behind Trevelyan, carefully helping him to get up, leaving Severus to prepare the port key to return them to Britain. "You didn't think we'd leave you here if you needed help, did you?"

A sharply bitter expression crosses Trevelyan's face a moment, and she narrows her eyes, wondering what had happened that he was afraid of exactly that.

"We can talk later, we need to leave now." Severus is holding out the brass ring again, and Trevelyan closes his left hand around it, his right staying limply at his side. That worries her, and Pandora leans against him as she wraps her own hand around the port key, the three whisked away in a swirl of color as the door opens and Muggles start shouting.

* * *

Trevelyan is unconscious when the port key drops them in Pandora's back garden, and she's glad to see Dimitar when he catches Trevelyan before he can hit the ground.

"What happened?"

"Whatever happened, MI6 didn't attempt to retrieve him, and he's been in the hands of Soviet Muggles for several days, possibly longer. I'm unclear on the details." Pandora goes to open the door as Dimitar levitates Trevelyan, and Severus goes ahead of them, already muttering dire thing under his breath.

"Lovely." Dimitar delicately manuevers Trevelyan inside, and upstairs to the spare bedroom, which already has a table full of potions laid out, and the bed made up for a patient. "How are your stocks of basic potions ingredients? I may need Severus to brew more, depending on what exactly Alec's injuries are, and what the Muggles have done to attempt to treat them."

"Not as good as mine." Severus is checking over the potions, inspecting labels and color and viscosity. "Though I expect Pandora's are more adequate than most."

"The only way I would have better is if I were a qualified Herbology Master, and that was never my best class." Pandora helps Dimitar to get Trevelyan settled on the bed, and stripped out of the Muggle hospital garb. "Are those satisfactory for first treatments, or are you going to insist we stick to wand-work while you go raid your own stores?"

"They're perfectly adequate for commerical brewing." Severus's lip curls, and Pandora allows herself a brief, strained smile. "You have a potions lab space?"

"Household brewing only, nothing fancy. I might have gotten an E on my Potions NEWT, but I suspect only barely that." Pandora summons a pair of pajamas from the wardrobe, dressing Trevelyan while Dimitar levitates him.

"It will have to do. I can bring my own supplies from Hogwarts after I inform the Headmaster I'll not be available for the next week."

"I'll hope it doesn't actually take that long to get Alec's injuries healed enough not to require all of us hovering." Dimitar twirls his wand in the complex pattern of a diagnostic spell, a web of light hovering over Trevelyan with various indicators of injury and nascent infection. "I may ask for directions to whoever is the cause of these injuries, however."

"I don't know that we'll be able to get them. Meredith was unhappy enough about giving us even so much as a city to begin in in order to locate Trevelyan." Pandora tucks Trevelyan in before she retreats to the door. "I'll leave you to starting him healing. I need to tell Xeno and Luna we have guests, and that Trevelyan will need to be allowed to rest."

She closes the door behind her, as gentle as she can, before going to her office to pull the parchment she uses to communicate with Xenophilius when they're both working. Scrawling a quick note that she's home, and getting an absent reply that he'll fetch dinner once his day is done if she'll pick up Luna from the Weasleys.

_Dinner for five, my love, and some bones for broth. We've guests, though Trevelyan won't be up to joining us for dinner tonight._

Pandora can only hope that Trevelyan will be on his feet again soon, with his injuries and what looked to be less than adequate medical care from the Muggles who'd been holding him. If that's the best they could provide, she'll eat her Ministry robes.

Severus is coming down the stairs from the guest room when she steps out of her office, his face carefully blank.

"How is he?"

"Still unconscious. Dimitar poured a Dreamless Sleep down his throat so he would stay that way." Severus draws a deep breath, closing his eyes as he visibly settles himself. "Burns on his face and all down his right side, with the worst on his wand arm, infections starting to fester where the burns are worst, nerve damage, and some kind of toxin exposure that Dimitar can't identify yet."

Pandora blinks, reaching a hand behind her to grip the frame of her office door tightly. "Dear gods above and below." She takes a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "What do you need from us to be able to identify that toxin?"

"Dimitar is getting a sample of Alec's blood, but I'd need a clean sample to compare it to if this isn't going to take at least a few days."

"I'll see what Meredith can get me." Pandora turns back to her office, dashing off another note to Xenophilius that he'll need to get Luna, she has to run an errand to make sure of Alec. Pandora can only hope that Meredith can get her what they need without too much trouble.

* * *

"I'd need proof 006 is alive first." Meredith has been holding her tea since Pandora started explaining what she needed, not bothering to drink it. Composure rather than ease, Pandora is certain. "I don't need to know how he survived or how he got home - I'm certain I don't want to know - but I need proof he's alive, or I risk more than my career."

"He's unconscious in my guest room, Meredith, and the physician attending him isn't going to allow him to be conscious until there's some healing. I need a clean sample of his blood, or a sample of whatever toxin he was exposed to on his last mission before that can happen." Pandora sighs, taking a sip of her tea. It's lukewarm and bitter, and she sets the cup back down on its saucer. "Would your word on his continued existance be sufficient for MI6?"

"Possibly, though it would be better if I had another agent present as well."

Pandora sets cup and saucer on the table between them, pinching the bridge of her nose between her fingers. "Who's been tapped as the next potential 006, if anyone?" She knows Trevelyan hadn't been looking for his replacement yet, but there's always someone.

"No one, to the best of my knowledge. I don't think M has given it any thought yet."

There's annoyance in Meredith's voice, and Pandora can agree wholeheartedly, as it makes it harder for Pandora to even think of letting them into her home. Meredith is one thing - she's a friend, and her youngest has shown signs of accidental magic since she was toddling - but most of MI6 is unaware of magic, like most Muggles.

"Perhaps someone from the TSS part of MI6." Meredith sets her own tea down, giving up the pretense of drinking it.

"If you can find one who is sufficiently incurious." Pandora rests her elbows on the table, rubbing her temples. "One of the other 00 agents?"

"007..."

"No." Pandora looks up to meet Meredith's gaze. "Not until I know why Trevelyan was left behind to die. I'm not willing to trust that man around my friends, much less my husband and daughter." If she finds out this was caused by Bond, there will be no force on this planet that will stop her from making him regretting it.

"There's no other 00 available, if you'd prefer them." Meredith leans back in her chair a moment. "One of the MI6 doctors, then."

They should have thought of that at the start. "That would make getting the clean sample even simpler."

"How fast can your friend identify the toxin with that baseline available?"

"Hours, probably. No more than a day. Severus is a Potions Master, the youngest in Britain for centuries." Pandora lets her pride in Severus warm her a little, a small smile crossing her face. "Unless he's delayed by his employer, he'll likely have the equipment set up to begin identification by the time we can get to my home."

Meredith nods, standing up. "I need to make some phone calls from my study. I'll see what I can do."

"Unless you think it will take until tomorrow, I'll wait. There's no phone in my home, and I don't have an extra two-way parchment at the moment."

Another nod, and Meredith leaves Pandora in the kitchen while she goes to do what she can. Now comes the hard part. Waiting.

* * *

Xenophilius meets them at the door, ushering them inside, and inviting their guests to stay for dinner. He'd apparently brought more than enough home for the guests they already had.

"I thought we'd need it." Xenophilius smiles gently, kissing her cheek. "Luna is sitting upstairs with Alec. Dimitar thought it would be good for him to have a familiar presence."

Pandora nods, taking his hand, and squeezing briefly. "I'll send her to wash up for dinner while I take Meredith and Doctor Warwick up to see Trevelyan. Has Severus returned?"

"He sent an owl to tell us he'll be arriving late tonight. Dumbledore apparently has something he insists must be dealt with now, and only Severus can do it."

"Of course he does." Pandora sighs, squeezing his hand again. "Can you make sure he gets set up in the still room when he arrives? I'll need to be at the Ministry tomorrow, since I've been absent a few days without informing anyone. They'll need to know nothing untoward has happened." At least not to her.

Xenophilius nods, and lets her go to show Meredith and Warwick upstairs while he gets the dinner table ready.

Luna looks up from the book she's reading out loud when Pandora opens the door, smiling brightly a moment before she tilts her head curiously at the two women who follow her. "They're here to help Uncle Alec, aren't they?"

"I hope so, Luna." Pandora hugs Luna as Luna stands up from the chair. "I need you to go wash up for dinner, and help your father with the table while Doctor Warwick consults with Dimitar, and Meredith gets the information she needs."

A nod is all the answer Luna gives before marking her place in the book, and leaving the room. She doesn't need to be here for the details that medical professionals will share.

"What are his injuries?" Warwick is looking across the bed at where Dimitar is sitting in a comfortable chair, exhaustion visible in the slightly blank look on his face, and his refusal to get up as he usually would.

"Second and third degree burns on fourty percent of his body, primarily his right side, some of which looked to have been debrided already, suggesting there might have been fabric melted into the skin. Some first degree burns as well. Infections which suggest previous treatment did not sufficiently protect his wounds, or provide other avenues of avoiding infection." Dimitar pauses, his lips turning down in an exhausted scowl. "Or that someone deliberately did not do their best to prevent infection."

Warwick hisses, but doesn't otherwise interrupt Dimitar's assessment of Trevelyan's wounds.

"A contact burn on his scalp that suggests someone shot him with a blank, and a nasty bruise underneath. Four cracked ribs on his right side as well as bruising where there aren't burns. Nerve damage on the right side, though it's unlikely that anyone with strictly Muggle diagnostic equipment and facilities would be able to accurately assess that yet."

"The unconsciousness?" Warwick is taking notes on a small pad she fished out of her bag, the pen scratching across the paper swiftly.

"He was unconscious upon arrival, but that was not astonishing after a near seventeen hundred mile port-key with injuries as extensive as his."

Warwick blinks. "Was it safe to transport him that far without medical care?"

"Near instantaneous transport, and leaving him where he was presented a far greater danger." Pandora smiles, brief and sharp when Warwick glances at her.

"Has he woken up since?"

"Briefly, and I'd have rather he didn't." Dimitar runs a hand through his hair. "His current unconscious state is induced, although I can only continue to keep him in this state for another two, maybe three days before there's risk of him not waking up on his own when the potions wear off."

"MI6 will want him to make a report as soon as possible." Warwick doesn't sound particularly happy with that idea. "Was he awake long enough to assess his mental state?"

"He was fairly lucid when Severus and I were able to gain access to his hospital room. Surprised that anyone bothered to come for him, and I suspect he'd been screaming rather a lot. His voice sounded raw."

Warwick nods, adding notes from Pandora's report. "Is there a reason you brought him here, instead of a medical facility?"

Dimitar lets out a bark of laughter. "I am not explaining to any Muggle medical facility why I'm bringing in a badly burned man who was, at the time, clearly in Muggle hospital garb, and had already had treatment, but is not being transported by any official vehicle. St. Mungo's isn't equipped for determining what toxin he's been exposed to, and wouldn't think about Muggle toxins. And your facility, Doctor Warwick, has wards to prevent the arrival of anyone anywhere in the building save the main entrance whether by Apparating or by port key."

"Severus was the one who set the destination of the port key, and he knows here - of anywhere that would be suitable - the best." Pandora leans against the door, rubbing her temples a moment. "All we need, Doctor Warwick, is a clean sample of Trevelyan's blood, from before the toxin exposure, provided you have one stored at the MI6 medical facility."

"Only enough for identifying his body with a DNA sample. It's not more than a vial." Warwick puts her notepad back into her bag. "If I take a blood sample back with me, I can have the lab do analysis in parallel with your own work. For our records."

Pandora looks over at Dimitar. "How long before the Dreamless Sleep wears off?"

"Six more hours. I gave him his standard dose, and it's one Severus brewed, not a commercial brewing."

"Which means?" Warwick is looking between them, expression curious.

"That it will wear off precisely twelve hours after its effects kicked in. Commercial brewing can vary in quality depending on the brewer. Severus is the best, and most precise."

Warwick blinks, and mutters something under her breath too quietly for Pandora to hear, looking around the room again before setting her bag on the table under the window. She holds out a hand to Dimitar over Trevelyan's bed. "Doctor Ida Warwick, MI6. Alec Trevelyan's primary physician."

Dimitar pushes out of his chair to take the offered hand. "Dimitar Argyris. Freelance healer, among other things."

"I assume I don't have clearance to know what those other things are." There's a glint in Warwick's eye that makes Pandora hide a smile.

Dimitar grins, shrugging. "If I told you, I'd have to Obliviate you, and I really don't want to have that argument with Alec later."

"Fair enough." Warwick glances over at Meredith, who has been standing out of the way the entire time. "I think I have enough to justify going back to MI6 and getting that vial, ma'am. Do you have what you need?"

"Not yet. Not until Trevelyan is awake and coherent." Meredith has a small smile on her face that bodes ill for whoever gets in her way once she does have what she's looking for. Which Pandora is beginning to suspect is more than merely proof that Trevelyan is indeed alive and who he is claimed to be. "For now, however, it is enough to know he is alive. I'll escort you back to MI6, Doctor Warwick."

Then back here again, Pandora is certain. She needs to make sure Meredith and Warwick can get past the outer wards on their own, instead of turned away.

"Stay for dinner, please. I'll take you back through the garden after." And can make sure everything is set. "Dimitar will be able to let you in tomorrow if you arrive while I'm not home."

"Good." Meredith smiles briefly at Pandora, and gestures for her to lead the way to dinner.

**Author's Note:**

> Tags will be updated when chapters are added, so as not to spoil things going forward. I make no promises about any kind of update schedule, so if you want to follow, please subscribe for updates.


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